ok, something just hit me today while I was rewatching the original Avatar the last airbender series (I know it's not anime, that's not the point of this thread). All of its fighting/action scenes are unique with no recycled animation sequences and actual interesting combat.

here are what I'm trying to avoid:

Recycled scenes:Fortunately recycling the same scenes over and over again has faded out in recent series (anyone remember gundam wing? lol) I'm looking for series without any action scenes being reused over and over again (transformation scenes are forgivable).

DBZ power over 9000 fight scenes:But one thing that is really common in so many fighting anime is that the combat ends up devolving into DBZ type combat with lots of big flashy moves, explosions etc. While this is cool in some cases it can actually make the action sequences less interesting because there is no actual skill involved, just whoever can make the biggest splosion.

Overly long special move explanations:ok, I loved series like Kenshin and Yu Yu Hakusho, but did anyone notice that in the actual fights they spent about 90% of their time talking and explaining all their moves to their opponent and audience rather than actually fighting. Because telling your opponent exactly how your secret move works is a great idea and he's definitely not going to think of a counter to it in the 15 minutes you spent describing it to him.

Nakama Power (Nakama is the JP term for comrade/very close friend):Thing is one of my biggest pet peeves about many series. The main character is on the ropes, he's beaten to a pulp and has exactly 0% chance of beating his enemy. However, because his friends are supporting him and he's filled with their hopes and dreams (aka Nakama Power) he somehow gets a huge surge of power and makes a comback, beating his opponent and saving the day. I HATE THIS! I'm all for happy endings but I can't stand people winning just because they are main characters and have lots of people cheering them on. Have a little damn skill please.

What I'm looking for:So, lets look for series that don't have the above elements (or at the very least have them in small quantities) so we can get a list together of series that have actual good, visually appealing fight scenes. I'll start off the list with a few that come to mind, btw, anime movies are also acceptable since they tend to have a higher budget so their action scenes tend to be better anyway.

Fate/Zero: probably the first to come to mind since it is so recent, excellent animation and action sequences everywhere. There is some of the "explaining how special moves work" part in some of the fights but that is mostly just about noble phantasms and the action scenes flow flawlessly regardless.

Break Blade: Series of 5 movies that involve mecha type stuff in an alternate universe (although they're not gundum type mechs, they mostly fight like people with swords and primitive guns, no flashy beams or anything). Animation is good, fight scenes are cool, I can't think of any of the above flaws being present in this series.

Ghost in the shell, stand alone complex 1+2: Not a lot of action in these series as it's mostly detective work and hacking but when there is action it's very smooth and well done. The fact that it's a sci-fi type universe helps a bunch as fights cant devolve into power over 9000 type situations.

Cowboy bebop: pretty much the same as GITS (last episode showdown fight was truly epic).

Full metal alchemist brotherhood: While there is some explanations that occur about various alchemy and stuff the action scenes as a whole are quite amazing. I love some of the ones at the end such as King bradley single handedly taking down a whole unit of soldiers and a tank, or the armstrong fight vrs sloth. this is a series that has sweet action even when it has super power type moves from alchemy.

Anyway, those are just the ones that come to mind, I know there are plenty of others. I'm looking for some that I may not be familiar with so that I can enjoy seeing some new stuff.

they spent about 90% of their time talking and explaining all their moves to their opponent and audience rather than actually fighting. Because telling your opponent exactly how your secret move works is a great idea and he's definitely not going to think of a counter to it in the 15 minutes you spent describing it to him.

All of my feelings.And Nakama Power too, definitely.

I rarely watch animes with action - the good ones I did watch have already been listed above, but due to my persistence:Naruto (though an overused anime, they have some really good ones imo), Summer Wars for smooth animation, Soul Eater for epic scenes, Infinite Stratos, Guilty Crown,and there's a new anime, still to be released actually, that already showed some neat looking animation and fight scenes from its trailer called Project K / K Project. Just thought I might as well add that.

this is only 2 ovas and not very well known, but i remember Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki having really nice action scenes that fit your description, definitely worth checking out if that's something you're looking for. otherwise, there's more well known series such as Black Lagoon, Baccano!, Michiko to Hatchin, Samurai Champloo and Jormungand (a black lagoon clone from last season). Angel Beats! actually has pretty nice looking action scenes as well, and i haven't seen Darker than Black in a few years, but that too if my memory serves me correctly.

some good ones, can't believe I forgot black lagoon, but dog days? the shooting spirit canons stuff (which apparently requires zero learning or practice to do) really turned me off. I'm not familiar with those OVA's mentioned above or Yozakura Quartet, gonna check them out later, that's why I made this thread, to get some fresh series that I hadn't seen before.

Here's a couple more I forgot in my first post:Claymore: Has some of the explanation stuff in it but the action scenes are amazing (pity it never continued, the manga had some really awesome fights later on).Also, Garden of sinners, not all that many action scenes in it but the ones it had were beautiful.SSpeed Grapher: not a lot of extended action scenes but they ones they have are fun just because of the variety of abilities in the series.Basilisk: probably the best ninja action series I've seen (naruto possibly the only exception just because of how long it is). But the animation quality is far superior to naruto.

It's true that "DBZ OVER 9000" anime cause problems in that it gets REALLY HARD to maintain dynamic because once you see five explosions and guys flying around in outer space, it gets hard to top that. That being said, I do have to say that Sengoku Basara has some amazing animation and action sequences. The problem with the show is that that's pretty much ALL there is to it. The story starts with a huge battle. In the middle, more fighting. At the end, when the fighting is over, what do they do? Go back to fighting some more!

Ah, I still love it, though. They actually try to work in some drama in the second season, and it works ok. Let's be honest, that's not why people watch shows like Basara.

Kara no Kyoukai: the garden of sinners - Awesome animationAngel Beats - Some really nice animation but not as good as I would;'ve like it to beCANAAN - This was actually surprisngly good in terms of action animationHajime no ippo: Champions road - You may argue here that its nakama power, but really theres some very nice animation in the last few episodesGuilty Crown - Crystals everywhere, some nice animation tooAccel World - A new anime series with very nice action scenesGhost in the Shell: Innocence - Really good transitons from action scenesBlack Rock Shooter (TV and OVA) - Both had some good action scenes Karas - The first scene had mad actionPersona 4 - Has good action but most of the series doesnt focus much on it

I probably have seen a lot more but these are the ones which I know for sure had good action.

"Nakama Power" This is probably one of the MOST COMMON yet most annoying thing they put in manga/anime. I mean, really, just exactly how you get power from your friends' words? Have some dignity of being a protagonist! Light touch of power generated by friendship is fine, but overusing or abusing it is really bad. I've seen many anime since I was young and believe me not just action ones, but fantasy, shoujo, shounen (pretty much like action)...you name it. Every category has one.About explosion, I love it, but overusing it makes the anime boring.

One action anime (it's coming out) I would really recommend is Code Breaker. The plot and fighting are intense. It does have explosions in it but it's pretty good. I think the anime is coming out soon but you can definitely try the manga first to see if it suits your interest.

Also, try K by Gora Projects. It looks like a decent anime from what I've seen. (There is also a manga coming out after the TV series and it looks pretty decent too).

What came in my mind, that you didn't mention in your post already, is

- Michiko to Hatchin- Trigun- Gungrave- Slayers (but sometimes it might be repeatable due to spell casting methods)- Ergo Proxy (not THAT much action, but when it happens, well, they have skills)- Keroro Gunsou (maybe, thinking of repeatable action scenes, none comes in my mind because Keroro is a fool, but a quite creative character; but since there are so many episodes, it might repeat sometimes....)

Aaaaand, if I remember clearly (but not sure):

- Escaflowne- Fushigi no Umi no Nadia- Gurren Lagann

And he, how about Street Fighter? I didn't see that much of it, but I remember it was quite fine in terms of action.

Jasta85 wrote:Nakama Power (Nakama is the JP term for comrade/very close friend):Thing is one of my biggest pet peeves about many series. The main character is on the ropes, he's beaten to a pulp and has exactly 0% chance of beating his enemy. However, because his friends are supporting him and he's filled with their hopes and dreams (aka Nakama Power) he somehow gets a huge surge of power and makes a comback, beating his opponent and saving the day. I HATE THIS! I'm all for happy endings but I can't stand people winning just because they are main characters and have lots of people cheering them on. Have a little damn skill please.

Jasta85 wrote:Nakama Power (Nakama is the JP term for comrade/very close friend):Thing is one of my biggest pet peeves about many series. The main character is on the ropes, he's beaten to a pulp and has exactly 0% chance of beating his enemy. However, because his friends are supporting him and he's filled with their hopes and dreams (aka Nakama Power) he somehow gets a huge surge of power and makes a comback, beating his opponent and saving the day. I HATE THIS! I'm all for happy endings but I can't stand people winning just because they are main characters and have lots of people cheering them on. Have a little damn skill please.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! ....'nuff said. It does suffer from some of the explaination stuff, but most shounen anime do. At least it has interesting fight scenes and doesn't focus solely on the main character.